PHILIPPIANS 4:1-9

“Therefore, my brothers and sisters, whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm in the Lord in this way, my beloved. I urge Euodia and I urge Syntyche to be of the same mind in the Lord. Yes, and I ask you also, my loyal companion, help these women, for they have struggled beside me in the work of the gospel, together with Clement and the rest of my co-workers, whose names are in the book of life. Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. Keep on doing the things that you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, and the God of peace will be with you.”

            On this World Wide Communion Sunday, how wonderful to feel that sense of unity with other Christians around the world. So how are we called to bring this unity into our lives:  especially in times of conflict?  Today’s scripture addresses those times when conflict breaks into the peace we so long to feel.  Can you remember a conflict you were in, where you kept the dialogue going and struggled through to then experience the peace God gives, which comes from that faithful struggle? 

            In our scripture today, Paul addressed tensions in the first century Jesus movement — an apparent conflict between two women:  Euodia and Sytyche. Paul is writing to the community to help these two women.  Women played an important role and these two  might have been the heads of two house churches. Paul wants them to rejoice in the LORD  for they have all struggled together in the work of the Gospel.  He does not take sides This is an appeal for unity.  Paul also praises the quality of ‘gentleness’.  The Greek term denotes generosity toward others that is characteristic of Christ.  Hear again Paul’s words: 
”I ask you also help these women, for they have struggled beside me in the work of the gospel, … Rejoice in the Lord always.   Let your gentleness be known to everyone.  And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

The peace that is promised here is not the absence of conflict.  When we accept God’s gift of peace, then our hearts become in Christ, and we can continue the dialogue in the midst of conflict.  Open our hearts with generosity toward the other —even the other who may think so differently from us. 
Keep the dialogue going.

Now Let’s look at a conflict that happened four hundred years ago to some of the founders of this country and our own denomination— two Puritans:  John Winthrop and Anne Hutchinson.            The Puritans, the forebears of the Congregationalists and the United Church of Christ, were reacting to the  liturgy and governance of the Church of England.  For many years the Puritans tried to work within the church structure but finally in 1630, they sought spiritual freedom and set sail for a new world where each congregation could be self-governing and elect its own ministers.  These Puritans avoided ‘needless’ company-keeping, openly reproved swearing and drunkenness, and practised a self-consciously ‘godly’ way of life, inspired by bible-reading, and listening to sermons.  Perhaps you have heard H.L. Mencken’s characterization of the Puritans?  A Puritan, in his view, was someone who is worried that someone, somewhere is having fun. 

            John Winthrop  was a wealthy English Puritan lawyer, and one of the leading figures in the founding of the Massachusetts Bay Colony.  He founded a number of the communities along the banks of the Charles River and served as governor.

            As he was crossing to the new colony, he wrote a sermon which has been often quoted by American Presidents. I welcome Nancy Parsons and Don Doyle to the lectern to be the voices of Anne Hutchinson and John Winthrop.  Hear now a reading from his sermon, praised as one of the great lay sermons of the millennium:  'A Model of Christian Charity:’

READING #1 
"We shall find that the God of Israel is among us, when ten of us shall be able to resist a thousand of our enemies, when He shall make us a praise and glory, that men shall say of succeeding plantations:  the LORD make it like that of New England.  For we must consider that we shall be as a City Upon a Hill, the eyes of all people are upon us.”

Did the Puritans succeed in building this City on a Hill in New England?  How did Winthrop react when conflicts developed in his community? 

READING #2 Doyle:

“We must be willing to abridge ourselves of our superfluities for the supply of others’ necessities, we must delight in each other, mourn together, labor and suffer together, always having before our eyes our Commission and Community in the work.  So shall we keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. “

We hear again Paul’s theme of struggling and rejoicing together:  delight, mourn, labor, unity, peace — TOGETHER— always with a barometer for God’s presence in our lives.  This was a man full of faith in Christ who was willing to work together, much as Paul suggested to the Philippians in our scripture. 

Yet the actual community, the city on a hill that was built in Boston, did not include the voices of all the people. 

John Winthrop and others did not listen to all the voices.  One person in particular was  different;  her thinking was independent, unorthodox.  Her name was Anne Hutchinson, daughter of a Puritan minister from north of London.  She arrived with her husband and eight children four years after Winthrop and was described as A ‘woman of ready wit and bold spirit.’  For three years, the Hutchinsons lived across the street from the Winthrops.  She believed that anyone might receive the truth by direct revelation from God.  She interrupted preachers in the middle of their sermons when she disagreed with them.   She began to hold meetings of women in her home after worship.  Soon the numbers grew to as many as 50 people, now including men. Now John Winthrop was said to admire piety in women, not when they asserted religious leadership outside of the home.   Anne was accused of undermining authority.  Hear now, in her own words, her reactions to these accusations:

READING #1 Parsons:
He who has God's grace in his heart cannot go astray.

• The power of the Holy Spirit dwelleth perfectly in every believer, • If any come to my house to be instructed in the ways of God what rule have I to put them away?

Anne also spoke against racial prejudice and Native American slavery. In the end, it was Anne’s claim of direct revelation from God apart from the inspiration of the Scriptures which led the court to condemn and excommunicate her for these incriminating beliefs. A trial was held, and Governor Winthrop delivered the final verdict:

READING #3 DOYLE:
Mrs. Hutchinson, the sentence of the court you hear is that you are banished from out of our jurisdiction as being a woman not fit for our society.

Anne’s response to this verdict was this:

READING #2 PARSONS:
• The Lord judges not as man judges. Better to be cast out of the church than to deny Christ. • But now having seen him which is invisible I fear not what man can do unto me. • You have power over my body but the Lord Jesus hath power over my body and soul;

Was this Paul’s understanding of dealing with conflict? I do not believe so.   According to Paul, we work to support our community members, even when we disagree.  Our conflicts take many shapes and sizes — some we inherit, some we create.  Some continue generations long cycles of guilt and blame.  Some are with those who are no longer with us and some are with those who refuse to go away.  Some are with those who dialogue and some do not.  Some are with those who see Christ in their neighbor and some do not.  Some devolve into abuse and violence, and in these, the dialogues are best mediated or removed from the abusive situation until each can respect the other. 

This conflict between Anne and John has many layers, as most conflicts do.  One of those layers is the question of women preaching, and while I have a small interest in the question of women in the pulpit, rather than look at the specifics of the conflict, I am, like Paul, going to appeal to the basics: keep the dialogue going, rejoice in God’s presence with us in the conflict, and feel God beckoning us to peaceful resolution.   
Winthrop’s intentions were good; he tried hard to establish the Christian ideal of loving one’s neighbor, yet when it came to someone who did not think or look like him,  he stopped the dialogue.  As Bill Belichek of the New England Patriots would say, he got to the Red Zone and fumbled.  He envisioned  a city on a hill as a Christian example for all to see,  but his 17^th century perspective could not see the fullness of what this community could be —— it did not include everyone at the table — it was a betrayal of Christ’s message of redeeming love.  This is not just a 17^th c story.   People still cannot listen deeply and work through obstacles to rejoicing and peace.  we are increasingly polarized.  We stop the dialogue. Instead we throw invective at one another.  Where is the peace in that?  Where is the generosity in that?

Now WE are called to continue building a city on a hill— a city with Christ’s love and break-through message shining as a beacon. We are called to this sacred opportunity to continue the dialogues——all the while  rejoicing in the transformative presence of  the Living God.   AMEN 

October 2, 2011

Amanda Harmeling, UCC member and candidate for ordination.